Being Neighborly Read online

  “Possibly.”

  She closed the tiny gap she’d created and placed her hands on either side of his face. Her beautiful eyes shimmered as she gazed at him. She pressed her lips to his, soft, but quick.

  “I love you, too.”

  The final ache melted away.

  “And I’ll move in on one condition.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “You stop trying to cook.”

  She erupted into a fit of giggles and as much as Ryan wanted to be offended, he couldn’t.

  “Fine. Besides, I’m in the mood for a different kind of breakfast in bed anyway.”

  His words stopped her laughter and his cock bobbed in agreement, eager to pick up where they’d left off. A day in bed with his Peaches, he couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate their upgraded status.

  * * *

  Acknowledgments

  To my RChat ladies. Your constant input and support keep me going.

  For the man that I married, thanks for always being a most excellent “research assistant.”

  Thank you to my editor Kerri Buckley. My first “like” in a pitch event and set this whole experience in motion. I appreciate your support throughout this process and your help in polishing up the story to make it shine.

  About the Author

  Meka James is a writer of adult contemporary and erotic romance. A born and raised Georgia Peach, she still resides in the southern state with her hubby of sixteen years and counting. Mom to four kids of the two-legged variety, she also has four fur-babies of the canine variety. Leo the turtle and Spade the snake round out her wacky household. When not writing or reading, Meka can be found playing The Sims 3, sometimes The Sims 4, and making up fun stories to go with the pixelated people whose world she controls.

  Website: AuthorMekaJames.com

  Meka’s Musings Newsletter: Eepurl.com/dsJY19

  Facebook: Facebook.com/AuthorMekaJames

  Also Available from Meka James

  Fiendish (A Twisted Fairytale)

  Not Broken (The Happily Ever After)

  The Lists (a Not Broken novella)

  Anything Once

  Don’t miss

  TAKE ME by New York Times

  bestselling author Tracy Wolff,

  Available now!

  Seven days, seven nights...

  One week of passion.

  One week of submission.

  One week where anything (and everything) goes.

  Hope Stiles needs.

  She needs inspiration. She needs tuition money. She needs a mentor who will teach her how to turn iron into art.

  Enter Deacon Vick, world-famous sculptor and recluse extraordinaire.

  When Hope answers his ad for an artist’s model, she gets more than just a job. She gets the answer to her every fantasy...including the ones she didn’t even know she had.

  From the minute Hope opens her gorgeous mouth, Deacon knows neither his art nor his life will ever be the same. He plans to use every second of their week together to push Hope to her limits—for art and for pleasure.

  The Dirty Bits from Carina Press: What you want, when you want it. Over the top sexy micro-romances designed to be read in an hour or two.

  Introducing the Carina Press Romance Promise!

  The Carina Press team all have one thing in common: we are romance readers with a longtime love of the genre. And we know what readers are looking for in a romance: a guarantee of a happily-ever-after (HEA) or happy-for-now (HFN). With that in mind, we’re initiating the Carina Press Romance Promise. When you see a book tagged with these words in our cover copy/book description, we’re making you, the reader, a very important promise:

  This book contains a romance central to the plot and ends in an HEA or HFN.

  Simple, right? But so important, we know!

  Look for the Carina Press Romance Promise and one-click with confidence that we understand what’s at the heart of the romance genre!

  Look for this line in Carina Press book descriptions:

  One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

  Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise.

  Find out more at CarinaPress.com.

  We think you have a good book in you!

  Are you writing in the below genres? The Carina Press editors wants to see your manuscript.

  We Are Currently Acquiring

  Most subgenres and all heat levels of romance:

  • Contemporary

  • Erotic

  • Paranormal & Urban Fantasy

  • Science Fiction & Fantasy

  • Romantic Suspense

  • Historical

  • Your subgenre here. See our submissions guidelines!

  We want to reaffirm our commitment to inclusion and representation in our publishing program and extend a specific invitation to Black authors, authors of color, disabled authors, LGBTQ+ authors, and other traditionally marginalized and underrepresented voices. We strive to make our list one of inclusion, and are working hard to build a catalog that is more representative of the romance reading public.

  To learn more about our submission guidelines, please visit: bit.ly/write4cp

  All submitted manuscripts receive a thorough editorial review and a response in approximately 12 weeks.

  Get the latest on Carina Press by joining our eNewsletter!

  Don’t miss out, sign up today!

  CarinaPress.com/newsletter

  Sign up and get Carina Press offers and coupons delivered straight to your inbox!

  Plus, as an eNewsletter subscriber, you’ll get the inside scoop on everything

  Carina Press and be the first to know about our newest releases!

  Visit CarinaPress.com

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Facebook.com/CarinaPress

  Twitter.com/CarinaPress

  ISBN-13: 9781488053726

  Being Neighborly

  Copyright © 2019 by Meka James

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

  www.CarinaPress.com